TheScottish Football League ("SFL") was established in 1890, initially as an amateur league as professionalism had not been legalised in Scottish football.[1] In 1893 a Second Division was formed, with the existing single division renamed the First Division. The Second Division was discontinued during theFirst World War but revived in 1921.[2] A Third Division was added in 1923 but collapsed three years later as a number of its member clubs found themselves unable to complete their fixtures for financial reasons, with many folding altogether. After theSecond World War the divisions were rebranded as Division A and Division B and a Division C was added. This included a mixture of new member clubs and thereserve teams of clubs from the higher divisions, but this division was dropped in 1955.[3]
A major re-organisation of the SFL in 1975 led to the existing two divisions being split into three smaller divisions, with a newPremier Division at the highest level. This structure remained in place until 1998, when the teams then in the Premier Division broke away to form theScottish Premier League, which supplanted the Premier Division as the highest level of football in Scotland.[4] In 2013 the two leagues merged to form the newScottish Professional Football League, ending the 123-year existence of the SFL.
For the whole history of the SFL, there was no mechanism in place for club(s) at the bottom of the league to berelegated.[5] A number of clubs who resigned or were expelled from the SFL went on to play innon-league football, either in senior leagues such as theEast of Scotland Football League or in leagues governed by theScottish Junior Football Association (SJFA).[6][7] Whenever a club left the league (for example, whenGretna was liquidated in 2008), a new club was elected in its place.[8] This closed-shop system was changed soon after the leagues merged, when a play-off between the bottom-placed SPFL club and the winner of a play-off between theHighland League andLowland League champions was introduced in 2015.Edinburgh City became the first club to be promoted to the SPFL when they won a playoff againstEast Stirlingshire in 2016.[9]
The tables show the first and last seasons in which each club competed in the league. Some clubs' membership was intermittent between their first and last seasons. Clubs shown inbold were among the founder members of the league. Where a former club has become defunct, anyphoenix club formed as a successor side is noted.
'We are obviously a new club carrying on the traditions of the old club and there is no connection with the old club other than the similarity in name,' said Hodge.